daughters of america

first they launch

a war against our bodies and our

rights to make decisions regarding

our own health

because birth control isn’t only

used to prevent pregnancies

in case you weren’t aware,

and for those of you that don’t need a

march

i’m so glad that you’re entitled to your

rights and are in a position where

you could never be hurt;

but i fight for everyone else and for myself—

daughters of america,

now they want to send us into war;

i’ve never believed in them

nor did i ever think the draft was right for

any man and i certainly don’t think it’s

right for any woman;

why should anyone be forced to fight for a cause

or a war they don’t believe in?

to become a liability or to die

for people too lazy, too cruel, too vindictive

to see anything from war but profit;

should they set this into motion

let them start with the president’s wife and the

wives, daughters, aunts, sisters, and mothers

of senators and government officials;

let them tear their own families apart should they

want this country to bleed—

none of us wants to be an expendable

pawn in a war:

we didn’t choose to be poor,

but they chose to be greedy.

– linda m. crate

just a monster

i’m not another

ship for you

to wreck

don’t want your

war and i don’t want

your acts or bills,

and i don’t want to listen

to how you are the

greatest;

narcissist,

we will knock you off your

pedestal;

i heard embarrassment is your

worst defeat,

but if you listened to anyone other

than yourself you’d see you’re

already an embarrassment

to the world let alone

your country—

i don’t know why you wage a

war on uteruses or against people with

a differing opinion

how are you going to be enlightened

or gain more intelligence if you just spew off

the things you think you know?

and you can call them alternative facts,

but anything other than the truth

is a lie;

science is real

can’t argue that fact,

and you better pray that there isn’t a hell

because if there is

surely you’ll be sent there

because you’re no god or man just a monster

and monsters burn.

• linda m. crate

Poetry by linda crate ↔ Illustration by Travis Koller